Nation briefs: Obama heads to G-20 with new urgency following Paris attacks

The Associated Press

Published
2:03 pm CST, Saturday, November 14, 2015

WASHINGTON — The global anxiety sparked by a series of deadly attacks in Paris by the Islamic State group has given new urgency to President Barack Obama’s upcoming talks with world leaders.

The crisis in Syria, where the Islamic State group has taken root, was already high on the agenda at the meeting of 20 leading industrialized and emerging-market nations. But the violence in Paris that killed at least 129 people will dramatically change the dynamic of the talks in Antalya, Turkey, a seaside resort city just a few hundred miles from the Syrian border.

In remarks from the White House shortly after the attacks, Obama said, “We’re going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice, and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people.”

French President Francois Hollande said Islamic State militants were behind the attacks and the extremist group claimed responsibility Saturday. The White House said Saturday that no information they have contradicts the French assessment that IS carried out the Paris attacks.

Obama met with his national security team at the White House on Saturday before departing for Turkey. His trip includes stops in the Philippines and Malaysia for a pair of Asia-Pacific summits.

Feds nab sex traffickers in SD: ’catching awful lot of them’

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — It was an anonymous two-story house with an outdoor side staircase, nothing that looked ominous to Kevin Koliner when he passed by going to and from work. On one evening stroll, the federal prosecutor heard loud noises but figured it was just a party. Later, he’d discover the ugly truth.

In a squalid second-floor apartment, just blocks from the U.S. attorney’s office, Mohammed Sharif Alaboudi ran a violent sex trafficking ring, preying on young, troubled women. He plied them with drugs and alcohol, gave them clothes and a place to stay, and forced them to engage in sex acts with strangers. Prosecutors dubbed his place a “house of horrors.”

The case of Alaboudi, now serving four life terms, offers a glimpse into how the feds are waging an aggressive campaign to root out the illicit sex trade lurking in this seemingly unlikely locale: a low-crime state dotted with sleepy hamlets.

“We’re just a friendly state and I think traffickers see this as a trusting place and think, ’They’re never going to catch me. They’re not so bright,’” says Jenise Pischel, program coordinator at Our Home Inc., a private non-profit that has helped trafficked girls, including a 14-year-old in the Alaboudi case. “Well, we seem to be catching an awful lot of them.”

In recent years, the feds have pursued about 50 sex trafficking cases, three resulting in life sentences. Bolstered by state and local authorities, they’re also getting support from Native American tribes, church groups and the Junior League.

San Francisco tour-bus crash leaves 4 in critical condition

SAN FRANCISCO— Four adults remain in critical condition at a San Francisco hospital on Saturday after an open-air tour bus careened out of control, running down a bicyclist, striking two pedestrians and smashing into several moving cars before it plowed into scaffolding lining a construction site.

San Francisco General Hospital spokesman Brent Andrew said six victims of Friday’s crash still in its care suffer from facial and head injuries as well as fractured ribs, arms and legs. Some have organ injuries.

The patients in critical condition are two men and two women. Two other men are in serious condition. Andrew declined to share any details of a minor who was also admitted to the hospital Friday night.What began as a serene tour through one of the nation’s most picturesque cities turned into a two-block ride of terror as the big blue double-decker bus careened through San Francisco’s Union Square before it plowed to a stop amid a heap of twisted metal.Twenty people were hurt and at least 30 passengers were onboard when the crash occurred shortly before 3 p.m.Tuition-free online university draws immigrant students LOS ANGELES— Colombian-born Nathaly Ordonez had practically given up on the idea of attending college after learning her family’s visas had expired, leaving her saddled with immigration woes as soon as she graduated from her New Jersey high school.She eventually got a waitress job, but still didn’t earn enough to cover the cost of school or get enough time off work to attend class. When she heard about a tuition-free online university, Ordonez was skeptical but decided to give it a try.Now, she’s studying for her bachelor’s degree in business and hopes to someday work for an advertising company.“When I got in, I was so excited, because I was able to go to college,” said Ordonez, who is now 23. “I am going to do what other people do.”Since receiving accreditation last year, the University of the People has seen enrollment grow nearly five-fold to 2,500. While the majority of the students hail from overseas, the number of U.S.-based ones has surged from 72 in 2013 to 950 this year, according to the school, which says a recent survey indicated about a quarter of them are immigrants in the U.S. illegally.Gas co.: No leak noticed on day before fatal house explosionELIZABETH, N.J.— The gas company that services a New Jersey house where an explosion killed one person and critically injured two others this week said no leak was evident when a technician visited the location the day before the blast.A spokesman for Elizabethtown Gas also said the company wasn’t aware that a ground-floor area had been illegally converted into an apartment with gas and electric services that were off the books.The explosion killed 24-year-old Femi Brown and sent several others to the hospital. Two have since been released but two more, including an 11-year-old boy, remained in critical condition Friday, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said.The explosion Wednesday occurred a block from busy Routes 1 and 9, about a mile south of Newark Liberty International Airport, and affected 16 other buildings. It knocked the houses on either side off their foundations, requiring them to be demolished.